


Beginnings

by Evelyn6



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, Pre-episode:s06e06, Pregancy, Rumbelle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 14:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8331763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evelyn6/pseuds/Evelyn6
Summary: Belle slips something important under the door of the pawn shop. What follows is, perhaps, the start of something new. Based on set photos for episode 6.06.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by set photos of Belle visiting the pawn shop and appearing to slip something beneath the door. Looks like a scene from either episode 5 or 6, so I thought I'd write this ahead of Sunday to give us a little hope :)

"Mrs. Gold? Mrs. Gold, are you alright?" Dr. Whale asked, his voice panicky as he tried to soothe her, but the fact that he called her 'Mrs. Gold' only made her sob harder. 

She buried her face between her palms, uncaring of the tears that splashed onto her hospital gown as her shoulders shook with the force of her cries.

This wasn't how this visit was supposed to go. It was her first proper doctor's appointment since she'd found out she was pregnant. Despite the fact that she and Rumple were... separated at the moment, it was important for her to get the proper tests done and make sure that both she and the baby were healthy. Every one of the books she'd read stressed the importance of prenatal care and so even though she didn't like hospitals, she had made an appointment and shown up this morning determined to see this through.

But for all the times that she had dreamed of starting a family, she never once imagined that she would go to this first appointment by herself. Her husband was supposed to be beside her, comforting her, sharing in the joy of watching their child grow inside her. Instead, she was alone; wearing a hospital gown that made her itchy and listening to Dr. Whale as he rattled off a checklist of things she should be doing and then he had mentioned a sonogram and Belle had burst into tears.

It didn't matter that they had technically already seen their son, grown and healthy and so incredibly handsome she couldn't believe it; with sandy brown hair and his father's eyes and her cheekbones. It didn't matter that she already knew he wouldn't be cursed with their small stature and that he would have a beautiful mix of their accents. This would be their first look at the life they had created, the life that was growing inside her _now_.

Rumplestiltskin was supposed to be there. And he wasn't.

And she couldn't stop crying.

Dr. Whale made a choked noise that she wasn't sure was from awkwardness or his fear that Rumple would somehow find out he had upset her and turn him into a toad. The thought made her suddenly want to laugh. Which only made her cry harder because this wasn't  _funny._  


She couldn't do this, she decided. Screw all the harsh words they'd thrown at each other at the docks. Screw their bickering and their stubbornness and everything they still had to fix. She couldn't do this. 

She forced herself to her feet and walked straight into the bathroom where she'd gotten changed and closed the door with a hard 'thud.' Minutes later she was dressed in her regular clothes, and though the water she'd splashed on her face hadn't done much to lessen the redness of her eyes, she left the room with her chin high. 

"I'll be back," she informed a still flustered Dr. Whale, silently muttering to herself  _hopefully with my husband._  


At the front desk, she asked the nurse for a new appointment and a piece of hospital stationary. She wrote the new date and time - two days from now - down on the piece of paper before chewing on her lip for a moment. Then she added, 'I hope you'll come.'

She cringed even as she wrote it, and again as she folded the paper in half, but if she thought any more about what she should say then she would write nothing at all. So didn't think about it, merely slipped the folded paper inside her purse and left.

She started to lose her nerve as she made her way down Main Street and saw the teal shop at the end of the street come into view. Considering how their last meeting had gone - and she still felt a pang of regret for all the despicable things she'd said - it was entirely possible he wouldn't want to see her, even for this. She wasn't quite sure what she would do if she showed up on Friday and he didn't. She would deserve it, surely, but the baby didn't.

She sighed as she tried to remind herself that their son was exactly why they needed to fix this mess. For themselves, sure, but also for him. His parents loved each other. They were  _True Love._  They needed to start proving it already. Maybe this was a good first step towards that, she wondered.

The blinds were drawn around the shop when she arrived, the sign flipped to closed, and she couldn't help but feel like she didn't have the right to intrude. She leaned up on her toes to peek through the small pane in the door, using her hand to block the sun enough that she could spot the yellow light of a lamp on in the back room telling her he was there. 

She didn't feel very brave when she settled for slipping the paper beneath the door, but at least she'd tried to reach out to him. The rest was up to him. 

She felt better as she left the way she'd come, returning to her small cabin aboard the Jolly Roger. It would have broken her already shattered heart to have gotten the sonogram without him that day. Despite everything, her heart needed him. Not his magic or his power or anything else - just him. And she didn't want their mistakes to prevent her from sharing this with him, nor giving him the chance to be a part of it. No matter what issues they still needed to work through, this baby was the product of their love, proof of what they could create together if they simply stopped talking and  _listened_ for once.

Yes, she was glad she changed her mind and decided to slip that note under his door. Maybe it wasn't much, but it was a start. As good a start as any.

* * *

The next time that Belle walked through the doors of Storybrooke Hospital, she was even more nervous than she had been the first time. She hadn't gotten a response from Rumple, so she had no idea if he would cone or not, but she had decided on the walk over that she would go through with the ultrasound either way. 

The hospital had already called to inform her that the rest of her tests had come back normal, showing that she and the baby were perfectly healthy. She'd been so relieved she thought she wouldn't have to worry this morning, but it had all come rushing back as she left for the hospital. 

Well, at least Dr. Whale looked more anxious than she did, his eyes darting around the room as if he expected the sparkly green lizard version of her husband to appear at any moment. She tapped her foot as she waited in the hall outside the exam room, determined to wait until her exact appointment time before she gave up on his coming. 

The sound of his leather shoes clacking along the tile made her heart skip the moment it reached her ears. She wasn't sure how she knew it was him since her eyes were still on her hands where they were clasped in her lap; maybe it was the familiar gait or the way the room warmed around her or the spark of magic she could feel in the air. Or maybe it was simply the love that filled her every time he was around that told her the shadow that appeared next to her was her husband. 

"Belle." It was whispered softly, hesitantly, nothing of the anger that had been in his voice the last time they'd spoken. 

She looked up to find a matching look of uncertainty on his face, his hands shoved awkwardly in his pockets. If he still had his long hair, it would have been falling in his face for how he had ducked his head, but the shorter cut made his shyness then all the more noticeable. And highlighted his eyes. 

"You came," she said, not quite intending for her voice to sound so pleased but happy it did when his shoulders relaxed in response.

"O-Of course," he said with a little nod. 

She could practically feel words hanging in the air between them, unspoken and heavy and begging to be said. But Belle swallowed over the lump in her throat and got to her feet, determined not to let any of it interfere with this moment. This moment was for them.

"I'm glad," she said, her mouth curving into a small smile that she saw draw one of his own from his lips. 

A throat cleared nearby. "Mr. and Mrs. Gold? Are you ready?" Dr. Whale asked, poking his head around the door.

_Mr. and Mrs. Gold._

Yes, that was definitely better.

She smiled as she nodded to the doctor, looking over her shoulder to be sure that her husband followed as she entered the small room. 

She didn't have to change this time, thankfully, so she went straight to the little stool in front of the exam table. She wasn't expecting the warm set of hands that went around her, one on her lower back and the other at her elbow to help her up. Truth be told, it startled her a bit, but not in an unpleasant way. She had  _missed_  his touch, and the feel of his hands against her again sent a jolt of warmth straight down to her toes. 

The way she responded, though, must have made him second guess himself. He looked down at his hands as if he didn't even realize he'd reached for her, as if they had moved of their own accord, and he was just about to pull away when she hastened to say, "No, it's okay."

He glanced at her, swallowed, but kept his hands on her as he helped her up onto the table and then as she settled back against the cushion. Only then did he pull back.

Dr. Whale was fussing with a monitor and some equipment nearby, and Rumple glanced around a bit, looking unsure of where he should stand until Belle smiled and tugged at his elbow until he was beside her. She felt the breath he let out against her shoulder as he leaned into the table, bringing one of his hands up to rest on the corner. 

"Okay, Mrs. Gold, if you'll just lift your shirt up," Dr. Whale asked, his eyes going wide and flickering to her husband. "J-Just over your stomach. So we can do the ultrasound."

She could practically feel Rumple's frown beside her, she thought with a chuckle. She drew her shirt up and adjusted her clothing a bit, watching curiously as the doctor uncapped what looked like a tube of toothpaste. 

"This will help us get an image. It won't hurt," he assured her, squeezing some gel onto her stomach. 

He should have warned her it would be freezing, she thought with a gasp. At the sound, Rumple tensed and reached for the doctor's wrist so fast that his fingers were wrapped around it before Belle had even seen him move. 

"Rumple!" she yelped, grabbing his arm. "I'm fine. It's just cold."

He looked at her, eyes narrowed to be sure the doctor hadn't actually done any harm, before he released the man's wrist.

"Perhaps a little warning, next time," he suggested in his smooth voice. 

Belle rolled her eyes, but she also agreed with him, so she kept her moth shut as she watched the doctor pick up a plastic wand and start spreading the gel a bit. It had warmed, she noticed - suspiciously so - and she felt the corner of her mouth pull into a smile at her husband's thoughtfulness. 

Her attention was caught, then, by the image that appeared on the monitor. A warped view of varying greys and blacks, until Dr. Whale stopped moving the wand with a little hum and a 'There we are."

Belle felt her mouth part on a gasp and she reached for Rumple's hand on instinct as they looked at the image on the screen.

"That, Mr. and Mrs. Gold, is your baby," Dr. Whale announced, pointing to a spot on the screen that was little more than a black circle with a grey blob inside of it, but it was one of the most incredible things Belle had ever seen.

That was their  _son._  


"Rumple..." she whispered, her voice cracking as her eyes filled with tears. 

He was beside her in an instant, all concerns for distance forgotten as he cradled her head in his hand and buried his nose against her hair.

"That's our son," she heard him breathe against her ear, so much awe in his voice that she thought it would burst from it.

"I'll give you two a moment," Dr. Whale said quietly before slipping out, the image still frozen on the screen. 

"Rumple... we made that," she said with an astonished little shake of her head. 

He chuckled, pulling back to kiss the top of her head. And again. "That we did, sweetheart."

She pulled back to look at him, her eyes fuzzy from her tears. "We're going to have a baby."

She still couldn't believe it. Despite all she'd seen and had confirmed already, this somehow made it seem so _real_. And it made everything else seem so small in comparison; so trivial next to the precious little life they had made and which she was nurturing within her. How could there be room for such anger when she was full of so much  _love._  


"Thank you, Belle," Rumple was whispering against her temple. "Thank you so much."

It was astonishing, how easy it was to let it all go at the sound of the love and the gratitude in his voice. Not forever, of course, but perhaps long enough for them to start building again. Something new. Something stronger. Something centered around the love they had for each other and now for their child. Because what was anything compared to family?

"Rumple, you're going to be a papa again," she said, grinning up at him, watching as the world slid into place as his eyes filled with tears - and possibilities.


End file.
